Of Slow Burning Wood and Inevitability
by pearldrops
Summary: The story of she and him and how they finally ignite. /Zevie


**I have fallen in love with these two. And forewarning, I have this thing of writing run-on sentences but hopefully you guys stick with it :) **

**Update 07/06/12: Thank you all for the amazing response and to whomever linked this on to tumblr (I may or may not have been tracking the zevie tag suspiciously) I literally am silently squeaking with happiness and thank you thank you thank you.**

* * *

_Of Slow-Burning Wood and Inevitability_

The story of she and him and how they finally ignite.

\\

She thinks she might be some sort of suicidal.

A masochist at the very least.

Or maybe the world just likes to work against her.

Because why else would she do this to herself?

Why else would she have fallen for her stupid, ridiculously attractive best friend who already has a million girls lined up in the chase? Why else would she do that stupid thing in which personal space means nothing and she hates it but loves it and the only thing she's sure about is that she's losing control?

Why else would she do it again and again? He's an addictive substance she can't let go of and it's torture on loop inside her head, that feeling of being underwater but not allowed to drown.

She doesn't think she could be any more obvious.

/

He likes to give off the impression that he's never had to work in his life.

Not very hard, at least; not for his music, not for school, not for the amenities in life.

Much less for a girl.

But she's different, he's known that from the moment he had stumbled upon her songbook and into her magic on his second day at Brewster High.

He's not sure when the hard line between unbreakable friendship and unfathomable affection had blurred, but he's too deep under now to care to find oxygen and e's scared of these feelings.

He's always had a way with words, just ask the girl next door, but he knows she won't be easily swayed and he sometimes wishes for his sanity that he could've dropped for someone less.

But she wouldn't be her and he wouldn't be so hopelessly devoted.

He's always had to struggle to hold his heart down around her.

/

Kacey Simon believes in happily ever after.

Kacey has believed since a young age, even if her vision has evolved from a sugarplum castle and a knight in shining armor to a white dress and a whirlwind romance. Kacey had always been sure it would happen to her first, but sometime along the way, Kacey Simon began seeing happily ever after in her two best friends.

Kacey sees how he fights to keep his feelings locked tight up, how he unknowingly yet still cruelly uses one pretty girl after another as a shiny distraction from the one who's been there so close yet so far for so long.

Kacey sees how she constantly keeps space between them to a minimum, how she seeks validation from him and only him and lights up at his voice his words his smiles his everything.

Kacey sees the sparks, overhears him singing about warmth and electric feelings he denies, finds her writing about a love she needs but can't have.

They're far from a whirlwind romance, but she and him are their own independent twist of painfully unrequited perfect.

/

Nelson and Kevin and Kevin and Nelson are often regarded as one single identity, even though the one single identity is actually two separate people.

Nelson and Kevin doesn't often take offense to this, because ninety percent of the time, it's true.

Especially when it comes to she and him.

Nelson and Kevin has known for a very long time that she and him are meant to be together, or at least it's in Nelson and Kevin's headcanon. That way, everybody ends up with somebody and everyone is happy and really that's all that Nelson and Kevin wants. But at the almost non-existent, back-and-forth pace she and him have going on, nothing is going to happen in a long, long while.

And if she and him don't get together, then what are the chances for the rest of them?

So Nelson and Kevin tries different tactics to push them together, like Operation Distract Him from Pretty Girls and Also Possibly Score with Pretty Girls Simultaneously and the little daily things like always arriving a little late to practice because she and him always arrive a little early. But after relentless months of trying, she and him are still stuck in the same place.

Nelson and Kevin and Kevin and Nelson wish that they'd just ignite already, but all that can be done is to cheer from the sidelines, hope for the best, and prevent the sparks from flying in the wrong direction.

\\

They've only fought once, despite their consistent arguments and heated discussions.

Just one actual fight, words meant to hurt, a reckless screaming match. It happened only two weeks into best friendship; he did something stupid and she did something stupid and suddenly they were both angry angry angry about something that didn't mean anything anymore.

Their fight was a strange thing. Every syllable felt like he was stabbing her but also stabbing himself. Like hurting him would only hurt herself more. It frightened both of them, how intrinsically intertwined they already were.

So they had stopped throwing words at each other and simply stopped communication.

After stubborn days of unnatural cold treatment and a weird, hollow gap between their bodies and desperate cries from Nelson and Kevin about not liking it when mom and dad fight, the two slipped back into their habitual places and the world began spinning on balance again.

Somewhere along the way they had silently agreed to never fight again. After all, he's never been one for direct confrontation and for all her blunt remarks and spitfire comments, she doesn't like aiming to injure.

It was an unwritten, unspoken contract that everyone respected. Anytime the two were tugging at restraints, at the tipping point of an ugly, ugly war, it was anyone's inherent duty to stop the chaos before whatever relationship she and him had ceased to exist completely.

Nelson and Kevin had saved them multiple times, Kacey once or twice, and even Molly had pulled the two back in her own self-absorbed way.

If the universe was burning down, who wouldn't try to save it?

\\

In recent months, she and him had been calm, peaceful, quiet, more so than usual. They shared looks instead of words, let music fill the room instead of conversation. Even though they spoke less, the little touches and sweet gestures made it apparent to everyone else that they were closer than ever.

So Tuesday afternoon, it's a surprise to everyone when Nelson and Kevin needs to hold her struggling figure back and Kacey is trying to step between them as his face is flushed red yelling.

Nelson and Kevin and Kacey have no idea what's going on; they had walked into practice a few minutes late to find rising voices and angry eyes and oh shit maybe they're too late this time.

Nelson and Kevin and Kacey have no idea what he's screaming about; the words are clear but the meaning is blurry but clearly she understands from the way she matches his rage, kicking away from the two boys keeping her back.

Her eyes are shining (and not in the good way) as she yells back at him, motioning with her arms wildly as he tries to tower over her, but it's less than four inches and this whole thing would be rather adorable if Nelson and Kevin and Kacey weren't terrified.

They've got this strange look in their eyes, one that Nelson and Kevin has only seen before once and one that Kacey has only seen illustrated in works of literature.

Nelson and Kevin and Kacey hold their breaths as she and him move closer to each other, voices fighting above each other, actions more aggressive, on the attack and it's all building building building when all of a sudden he drops out a sigh and puts a hand to her lips, muffling her indignant squeak as her glare intensifies up towards him.

He slowly, cautiously begins to take his hand away but she flings it aside and explodes on him, along the lines of what the expletive is your expletive problem and right then he just kind of

kisses her.


End file.
